Road Trauma Australia—Annual Summaries

This report is the latest in a series of annual road crash statistical reports. It presents annual counts of fatalities, fatal crashes and injuries and standardised rates. The focus is on the last ten years.

Data presented in this publication was correct as at May 2017. Due to normal ongoing revisions in road fatality data, comparisons between this publication and later reports will result in minor discrepancies.

Note: Figure 3.1 (p.36) has been revised.

2016 : At a glance

Total deaths in 2016 were 1,295, an increase of 7.5 per cent compare to 2015. In 2016, total annual deaths were 19.2 per cent lower than that of ten years earlier. The estimated trend over the decade was an annual reduction of 2.9 per cent. During the most recent three years the earlier trends have reversed, with increases in all jurisdictions.

In 2016 the number of annual deaths per 100,000 population was 5.37. This rate is 6.0 per cent higher than 2015 (5.06).Over the last decade the rate of annual deaths per 100,000 population has declined by a total of 30.3 per cent, equating to an estimated trend reduction of 4.4 per cent per year.

Analysis by age group shows population based rates of younger road users (aged less than 40) had greatest improvement. The rate for persons age 40-64 years is equivalent to the overall average, and the rates for those aged 17-25 years and for those 65 years or over are above the national average.

In 2015, major cities accounted for 34 per cent of all fatal crashes (down from 40 per cent in 2008). Urban areas – major urban and near-urban concentrations of over 10,000 people – accounted for 49 per cent of all fatal crashes and 86 per cent of the population.

A consistent series of population rates for annual hospitalised injuries is only available for the decade to 2011. During this time, annual hospitalised injuries per 100,000 population increased by 6 per cent to 152.6. In 2011, the hospitalised injuries rate was 27 times the population-based rate for fatalities (in 2002 this hospitalised injuries was 16 times the fatality rate).